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KOROR, Palau (Palau Horizon, Dec. 6) – Four members of the Palau House of Delegates and a staffer at the speaker’s office attended the recently concluded 6th General Assembly Meeting of the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace in Thailand.

The six-day conference, which was attended by delegates from 25 countries that included Bhutan, the Philippines and Kiribati, was held at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya City, Chon Buri province in Thailand.

The four Palau lawmakers who attended the conference were Vice Speaker Okada Techitong, House Judicial and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Kerai Mariur, House Resources and Development Committee Chairman Noah Idechong and House Education Committee Chairman Joel Toribiong.

Yokochi Mori, from the office of the speaker, also joined the trip as the delegation’s secretary.

In Thailand, the Palau delegation paid a courtesy call to Dr. Bhokin Bhalakula, president of the...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Dec. 5) – The Solomon Islands needs to grow more cocoa to ensure an increase production for export.

Dennis Pople, Director of an Australian-based cocoa buyer firm, the Holland’s Commodities International Limited, made this comment during a brief visit to the first cocoa project funded by his company for the Tenaru Secondary School yesterday.

[PIR editor’s note: Tenaru is located in the northwest region of Guadalcanal island where the capital city of Honiara is situated.]

The project, to help the Catholic run school earn extra revenue, started off in July with the planting of the first hectares.

Pople’s son planted the first seedlings to mark the start of the project. Yesterday was the first time for him to see how the project had progressed.

Under the project Holland’s Commodities International provided seedlings and tools worth SB$200,000 [US$28,600] that enabled the school to kick off...

SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, Dec. 6) – A Virgin Island company wants to bring in US$12 million in launching its Asian financing business on Saipan.

Bridge Capital LLC, which offers international lending, investments and consulting services, yesterday presented its investment proposal during a public hearing at the Governor Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Saipan.

Shawn Scott, managing partner of Bridge Capital, said the company’s relocation to the commonwealth could serve as the nucleus of a new international financial services industry here.

"We are very excited about coming to Saipan and launching our Asian financial business from here. We’re hopeful that our proposal will be considered by the local government as it will yield favorable results for the CNMI," Scott said, adding that they were overwhelmed by the support they have received from the local...

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (Vanuatu Daily Post, Dec. 5) – If the water chamber of Lake Vui breaks and water reaches the magma, the erupting Manaro Volcano could threaten to split Ambae Island in half or worse.

That is the observation of foreign and local geologists and vulcanologists who are currently monitoring the volcano, which began erupting again on November 27 after its last major eruption 121 years ago.

The volcano at Lake Vui of the Manaro in Central Ambae is confirmed as "the most dangerous" out of all the volcanoes in Vanuatu because it is situated below 50 million cubic metres of water. If the chamber breaks and water reaches the magma, there is bound to be a terrific explosion the like of which has not been seen by anyone in the country before.

An estimated 5,000 people are being moved from their homes in the ten-kilometre danger zones surrounding the volcano to safe zones in East, North East and pockets of areas in West Ambae.

HAGATNA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, Dec. 6) – Guam has always been home to Kiliso Alex. So it's confusing and hurtful when the 11-year-old student of Chuukese descent hears people say that Chuukese should go back to their home.

"I am home," Alex said, during a Thanksgiving luncheon at Vicente S.A. Benavente Middle School, where she goes to school.

Alex and her friend, Daisy Sosef, are Chuukese born on Guam. Both girls have returned to their Micronesian homeland only a handful of times.

"It makes me sad when I hear (other) people talking about Chuukese people in a bad way. I just want to go to school and have fun," Sosef said.

The girls said fights between ethnic groups occur almost weekly, though they've gotten smaller in number and in size.

But the school has the Islanders' Club, a program that school and program administrators say is contributing to fewer fights by providing activities aimed at easing racial tensions in...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Dec. 5) – The law and order situation in the Tonu area of South Bougainville is reported to have deteriorated since the arrival of eight Fijian mercenaries last month and Bougainville leaders have given the Fijians until December 20 to move out or be forced out of Papua New Guinea.

Autonomous Bougainville Government President Joseph Kabui said law and order in the area and the peace process had become a real concern since the men were brought in by con man and failed pyramid scheme operator Noah Musingku to train young men in his private army.

Mr. Kabui said in a media statement that the Autonomous Bougainville Government Executive Council met last Tuesday and had decided to work closely with the National Government and the Fijian Ambassador to Papua New Guinea to have the Fijians removed from Bougainville.

KAUAI, Hawaii (The Garden Island, Dec. 5) – In some real ways, the strength of Kaua'i's domestic visitor market is causing problems with the international segment, especially where Japanese visitors are concerned, according to industry experts.

The high demand from Mainland visitors for hotels, rental cars, and activities, for example, makes it more difficult for Japan travel agents and individual travelers to book Kaua'i, said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kaua'i Visitors Bureau.

"The Japanese market is becoming, unfortunately, vulnerable to strong U.S. East and U.S. West demand," meaning there is not always much space available for Japanese groups to book.

The downward trend of numbers of international visitors to Kaua'i remains a concern, even while numbers of domestic visitors (those from the Mainland) remain extremely strong, she said.

Kanoho admitted to being doubly concerned about the dearth in international...

To be held at the Government Prayer House on Mt. Vaea, the service is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and the stop in Samoa is part of Reverend Moon's 100 cities in 67 countries in 100 days trip, which began September 12 in New York. Apia is the 83rd City of the 100 worldwide city tour.

Some news organizations have reported opposition from Christian church leaders to Moon visiting certain countries. For example, Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) said Christian church pastors in the Marshall Islands, where Moon visited yesterday, have criticized the reverend's organization.

MAUI, Hawaii (Dec. 4) – There are few more emotional subjects in the islands than fishing, in particular the use of entanglement nets and specifically lay gill nets.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has been wrestling with the issue – and getting conflicting testimony – for more than two years. Ocean observers, including fishermen, know that shoreline waters are being depleted and one of the most wasteful techniques involves the lay net, a curtain of nylon mesh hung over or near reefs and left untended.

The nets are designed to snag anything that swims into them. Too often users of the lay gill nets set them at sunset and drag them up at dawn, dumping "trash fish," which are alive, dying or dead, back into the water.

Partly due to confusion over what kind of nets are being discussed and partly due to local fishermen feeling others are telling them what...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.